National consensus for police occupational health

For the first time, every part of policing has agreed what good occupational health looks like. The consensus statement has been signed and agreed and is part of our national approach to reforming occupational health in policing.

Working together to promote good occupational health in the police service

This consensus statement sets out our joint commitment and intent to work together to ensure that all serving police officers and police staff can access the occupational health services that they need and deserve. The primary audience is the chief officer group for each Home Office-affiliated force in England and Wales.

Using our collective capabilities, we seek to:

  • advance the knowledge of what occupational health is and what it isn't
  • improve understanding of the role of the occupational health function in supporting the national health and wellbeing strategy
  • promote compliance with national occupational health standards
  • work collaboratively to provide appropriate care and support by suitably trained occupational health practitioners
  • advocate access to specialist support in a timely manner where required.

The consensus is supported by the additional publication, 'A prospectus for change'. This document sets out what occupational health is for and describes the core specialist staffing cadre required to deliver a return on investment by addressing the legal, moral and financial aspects of the business case.

Read 'A prospectus for change' 

Good occupational health is essential to support the policing vision 2030 and to help deliver the UK government's 'safer streets' mission. It is a well-rehearsed axiom that our people are our greatest asset. Occupational health has a mission-critical role in supporting police personnel and assisting forces in optimising the deployment of these 'assets'.

As the only clinical service within policing, it occupies a unique position within forces, and it is essential that it is integrated within the police people management ecosystem. This will ensure that it works collaboratively and responsively to support business objectives: right person, right place, right time.

The occupational health function is not always well understood. However, it is an important component of the health and wellbeing offering. The delivery of occupational health should be planned in relation to the national health and wellbeing strategy.

Adequate resourcing of police occupational health is central to managing changes in policing. In an era of continuing financial constraint, forces need to invest wisely in occupational health. Forces must optimise delivery to make best use of scarce occupational health expertise where recruitment and retention are ongoing challenges. Staffing occupational health should reflect organisational needs, based on robust organisational health needs analyses.

The case for change

Successive annual surveys carried out by the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) have highlighted issues relating to fatigue and mental ill health. Research carried out in collaboration with the University of Surrey found high levels of sleep disorders, cardiovascular and metabolic ill health associated with shift working. Burnout, clinical depression, generalised anxiety and trauma-related mental ill health are all prevalent within police workforces. This inevitably creates problems due to absenteeism, presenteeism and turnover.

The Policing Productivity Review challenged forces to improve their investment in occupational health to achieve efficiencies via improved rates of sickness absence [1]. Research carried out by the University of Huddersfield, covering 57% of UK police personnel, found that absence due to psychological ill health had nearly doubled in a 10-year period. In addition, 39% of people taking a first-time absence due to mental ill health go on to take further absences [2, 3].

Deloitte research estimates that the annual cost to UK employers of mental ill health is £51 billion: £7 billion due to sickness absence, £24 billion due to presenteeism and £20 billion due to increased staff turnover [4].

There are challenges to be overcome to achieve good occupational health. However, we believe that this national consensus to facilitate and support forces to optimise their occupational health function will deliver benefits for police officers, police staff and the communities that they serve.

Defining good occupational health

Although the specifics of occupational health structures and processes are likely to vary at force level, according to circumstances, they should all conform to agreed principles. Forces must ensure that their occupational health function:

  • is configured according to a health needs analysis of the working population
  • is accessible and equitable to all
  • can be accessed in a timely manner, contingent on risk assessment
  • is professional and ethical
  • has suitably qualified practitioners working in accordance with the guidance from relevant regulatory bodies
  • is able to perform quality-assured clinical assessments
  • is able to provide evidence-based advice to individuals and managers about fitness for work and workplace adjustments
  • is able to communicate effectively and responsively
  • is accepted and valued by the workforce
  • is integrated into force systems and processes
  • is accountable to forces via agreed KPIs and service level agreements.

Signatories

The following organisations are signatories to this document:

  • Home Office
  • College of Policing
  • National Police Wellbeing Service
  • National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC)
  • Association of Police and Crime Commissioners
  • Police Superintendents' Association
  • Police Federation of England and Wales
  • UNISON

Collective strengths: what we will do together

Working collaboratively is essential to achieving good occupational health and improved wellbeing of the police workforce. A shared understanding of what good occupational health looks like, and an integrated approach, will provide improved coordination and delivery of resources and ensure that the principles and ambition set out above can be realised. There are key actions that can be taken nationally to support local action taken by individual forces.

 

Collective strengths: what we will do together

Shared communications
Develop shared communications for our collective networks to promote understanding of occupational health and to raise awareness of the benefits of a more connected approach to occupational health delivery.
Practical change
Pledge to make recommendations that support practical and sustainable changes to the police occupational health function.
Confidence in OH
Develop a narrative for occupational health that emphasises an ongoing commitment to reform, transforming attitudes and increasing confidence in using occupational health services, with a particular emphasis on its confidentiality, its role in supporting people with health conditions to function at work, and its role in supporting managers via risk-informed advice.
Strategic role
Promote the strategic, as well as operational, role of occupational health services
Build on standards
Encourage police forces to build on and improve existing work, such as compliance with occupational health standards and optimising occupational health performance via the occupational health practitioner network and its sub-groups.
Share what works
Promote sharing of best practice, for example the use of winners of the Oscar Kilo occupational health awards as pathfinder forces.
Work together
Encourage a broad integrated approach to improving occupational health, with forces working cooperatively with the Police CIPD Forum, staff associations and trades unions, and stakeholder support groups.
Needs-led service
Advocate systems to assess organisational health needs and risks to inform service level agreements or contracts for service.

Lead author and contributors

Lead author: Professor John Harrison, National Police Chief Medical Officer for England and Wales

Contributors:

  • Liz Eades, Occupational Health Lead, NPWS
  • Claire Long, Delivery Manager, NPWS
  • Dr Yvonne Taylor, Chief Inspector Safeguarding Governance, West Yorkshire Police (lead author of Working together to prevent suicide in the police force: a national consensus statement for England and Wales

Download and print copy

If you would like to download and print a copy of the consensus document, use the yellow button below.

Download consensus document

References

[1] The Policing Productivity Review, UK Government, October 2023.

[2] Cartwright, A. and Roach, J., 'The wellbeing of UK police: a study of recorded absences from work of UK police employees due to psychological illness and stress using Freedom of Information Act data', University of Huddersfield, 2020. <Revised_Final_Anon_main_text_29.4.pdf>

[3] Cartwright, A. and Roach, J., 'The wellbeing of UK police: a study of recorded absences from work of UK police employees due to psychological illness and stress using Freedom of Information Act data', Policing (2021) 15(2): 1326 to 1338. doi: 10.1093/police/paaa033

[4] Hampson, E., 'Mental health and employers: the business case to support employees and, in particular, working parents', Deloitte, May 2024. <Mental health and employers: The business case to support employees and, in particular, working parents - Thoughts from the Centre | Deloitte UK>

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